Grappling with the realities of teaching : artful representations as sense-making, meaning-making tools

The work of the teacher is becoming progressively more ambiguous and demanding; and making sense of what it means to teach is an increasingly challenging task. This chapter presents a teacher’s story to illustrate how creative, non-linear forms of representation such as visual imagery and writing, together with narrative reporting, were catalysts for revealing meanings for actions, and for eliciting the products and processes of reflection and self-awareness. These artful representations made visible the way conceptions of teaching and self-as-teacher were constructed and re-constructed. Attending to these ways of knowing highlighted possible strategies for dealing more intentionally with work demands. Such representations can be valuable resources for teachers, nourishing efforts to better understand what it means to teach and providing supportive scaffolding for making connections with the knowledge which guides action.